Seagate Ultra Mobile HDD Kit Paves a Path to 500GB Android Tablets

Tablets are crazy popular, there's no arguing that. At the same time, they're also incredibly gimped in terms of storage capacity when compared to full fledged desktops and notebooks, and though putting data in the cloud helps address this discrepancy, that won't do you a lick of good during an Internet outage. At some point, tablets have to start offering more storage space, and Seagate wants to help accelerate the process.

To do that, Seagate announced its new Ultra Mobile HDD designed exclusively for mobile devices. When integrated with its Mobile Enablement Kit, which includes Seagate's Dynamic Data Driver software technology, tablet makers suddenly have an upgrade path to 7X the storage capacity of a traditional 64GB slate with the same power, performance, and reliability of a flash drive.

"Coupling an ultra-thin, high-capacity HDD with software designed to optimize integration into tablets at a value-add price has allowed us to deliver a truly ground-breaking solution, enabling our partners to re-imagine the mobile device," said Steve Luczo, president, CEO and chairman of Seagate. "By empowering our OEMs with this revolutionary new technology, we have invited the industry to re-think the mobile market making this offering a true game-changer in the world of storage."

Seagate's Ultra Mobile HDD line is available to OEM tablet makers in capacities up to 500GB. It's a newly engineered 2.5-inch drive that's just 5mm thin and weighing in at a mere 3.3 ounces, so it's neither heavy or bulky. These drives consume as little as 0.14W and support long battery life that's necessary for a tablet. They're also rugged, Seagate says.

The other half of the equation is Seagate's Dynamic Data Driver software built for Android. This is essentially a caching system using 8GB of flash and an Ultra Mobile HDD in tandem, thereby offering the power consumption of a 64GB tablet and performance equal to that of a 16GB tablet, while costing less than either one, Seagate claims.

This could be a potential game changer for Android as it competes with Apple's iPad line, especially if Seagate's technology can live up to its claims.